Student headphone design leads to creation of new company

By Keri Allan

Published Wednesday, November 18, 2015

A former University of Nottingham student has designed customisable headphones that can be manufactured using 3D printing.

Rovinya Sollitt was a final year BEng product design and manufacture student at the University of Nottingham when she saw a brief from product design company Cofabrico challenging students to create a set of headphones which were unique, rugged and technologically advanced. The product also had to be manufactured using 3D printing, which enabled a large degree of customisation.

“I decided to approach The University of Nottingham for this project because of its reputation in innovation and practical teaching in product development and advanced manufacturing facilities,” explains Cofabrico’s owner, Irma Gilbert. “I also believe that a company can benefit a lot from students, as they are very open minded, full of new innovative ideas and not afraid to try new technologies.”

“It was a challenge to develop headphones which could be customised by the user, and yet would still be distinctive and instantly recognisable,” says Rovinya. “Irma gave me lots of useful advice and I also sought the opinions of various manufacturing and electronic engineering specialists to explore the feasibility of my ideas. However, I really feel that we now have a very special and unique product with real potential.”

Rovinya came up with the brand name Artem Sonitus, to provide a distinctive name in a competitive market. CoFabrico is planning to launch an Artem Sonitus spinout company to promote the product globally and further develop it based on customer feedback. Rovinya will be a shareholder in the new venture.

CoFabrico connects designers, manufacturers and buyers together and is now hoping to showcase more students from the University of Nottingham in the future to help them build their profile and promote their work in the marketplace.